Honeydew Toastmasters hold speech contest

Members of the Honeydew Toastmasters held their speech contest on Monday March 14 via Zoom. The more formal meeting was for contestants Hannes Mare and Gemma Piggot to compete for a place at the area speech contest.

Before the speeches began, Vice-President of public relations, Maralize Mulder explained what the judges were looking for. “Acceptable speeches can be informative, humorous, motivational or inspirational. Content counts for 50%. This should include speech development, effectiveness and speech value, and do you capture your audience? Delivery counts for 30% and includes gestures such as physical, voice and manner. Language counts for 20% where we look at tense and grammar.”

Hannes, the first speaker of the evening spoke about the ‘Political and economic risk assessment for Algeria’. He covered what he was trying to achieve, to “… assess the risk that exists in the Algerian economy. The biggest difficulty in getting things done in the country depends on how well-connected you are. Unfortunately, the biggest contributor is corruption. There is also a major dependence on oil and gas. The country needs to diversify its income away from these resources.”

Gemma’s speech titled, ‘A Vision’ spoke on the importance of having a clear vision in life and leadership. “Nothing disciplines like a vision. The key to life is finding a vision that imposes self-discipline. People trust a person who is perceived to be disciplined,” she said. She added that having a vision simplifies life because once you know where you are going, you immediately know which road not to take. “If you want to be successful, seek to be a person of value.”

While the judges deliberated on the two impressive speeches, Gemma shared that what inspired her in life was hope, and her desire to “… sprinkle a little bit of hope to people’s lives. We all want to know our purpose and what we are living for but during lockdown, a lot of people have been feeling hopeless.” Hannes revealed that he was often inspired by his wife and her perseverance. “She is a very driven person and I am always inspired by how she always gets up even when she is under pressure.”

Only members who have completed level 2 can participate in the club speech contest. Each Toastmasters Club does its speech contests now as the first and second places go through to the area contest, and the winners of the different areas go to the district contest. Last year the world champion of the toastmaster speech contest was a South African “… and that’s the whole idea of a speech contest, to try and progress to the top,” Hannes explained.

In Monday evening’s speech contest, Gemma won first place with her speech. She and Hannes can compete in the area speech contest set to take place on March 26.